Windows 10: Previous Product Key On New Build

I recently completed a new build and was told that I could use the product key associated to my microsoft account from my previous PC. However, once windows was installed the key would not activate. I've followed all troubleshooting steps regarding activation in general and activation after significant hardware changes without any progress.

As a side note, the product ID number which I have is different to the one its trying to activate on this PC.


Am I correct in thinking that the only thing I can do is buy another product key?

Thanks in advance
Richard

:)

 

reverting to previous build/version

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query on Microsoft Community.

I would appreciate if you could answer few questions to narrow down the issue.

• When the computer did froze? Is it when you tried to roll back?
• Did you receive any error message?

I suggest you to remove all the external devices plugged in to the computer and check if it helps to resolve the issue. If the issue persists, please restart the computer and check whether it rolled back or not. If it loads Windows 10,
I suggest you to download the latest ISO of Windows 10 and perform automatic repair.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Steps to perform repair:

a) Insert the installation DVD or USB
and boot Windows 8 from it.

b) In the ‘Windows setup’ page select the language to install’, ‘Time and currency format’ and the ‘keyboard or input method’ and click on ‘next’.

c) Click on ‘Repair your computer’ and select ‘Troubleshoot’.

d) Click on ‘Advanced options’ and select ‘Automatic Repair’ and select the operating system.


If you really would like to rollback, I suggest you to refer the below article on How to go back to the previous operating system (Windows 7/8.1) from Windows 10.

How to recover a previous build(s) or your original version of Windows using the Recovery or Rollback feature - Revised July 23rd, 2015

How to recover a previous build(s) or your original version of Windows using the Recovery or Rollback feature - Revised July 22nd, 2018

Hope the information helps. Let us know if you need further assistance. We will be happy

to help.

Thank you.

 

New System build Suggestions

just another build suggestion to consider- System Builder - Ryzen 7 1700 3 GHz 8-Core, GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB Turbo (2-Way SLI), S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower - PCPartPicker

 

Convert a Windows 8pro product key to a Windows 10pro produkt key

Hi Andre,

Thank you for contacting Microsoft community.

I suggest you to Uninstall the license using the following steps.

• Press Windows key + X
• Click Command Prompt (Admin)
• At the command prompt, type: slmgr.vbs -upk
• Press Enter, this will uninstall the product key from the computer.

Further on, install Windows 8.1 activate the copy with the product key on the new machine. Then again upgrade the same to Windows 10 using Window Update or Media Creation Tool.

Hope this information was helpful and do let us know if you need further assistance. We will be glad to assist.